RV wholesalers vs RV direct??

threegr8katz · 10-12-2010, 03:35 PM

Ok I have read post in favor and against Dealer vs RVW, But what do you all think about RV wholesalers vs RV direct?

I have a new TT on order with RV direct. Yes I received prices from both and in the end RVdirect was at least $1500 less DELIVERED to my home over RVW.

RVW Tried to get me to cancel the order, I told them if there price was as good or better then RV Direct I would have gone with them.... but it wasn't and they lost out on this sale.

so what pros and or cons have you all had with either of these two dealers?

NWJeeper · 10-12-2010, 03:53 PM

That would kind of require that someone had bought from both dealers to be able to fully answer your question.

Dave_Monica · 10-12-2010, 04:26 PM

We've dealt with both.

We bought our Rockwood 2605 from RVW in 2007. We picked them as they had better pricing than some of the other on-line dealers and way lower than the local dealers. We had a few issues with the camper which they eventually resolved, but it was a bit of a struggle.

When we decided to upgrade to a Rockwood 5th wheel, we called RVW first. I asked for an additional discount as it was our second purchase from them, but they weren't having any of that. We also got prices from RV Direct and 3 other on-line dealers...RV Direct was the lowest and surprisingly, RVW was the highest. We went ahead and placed the order with RV Direct. I got a follow up from RVW a week later..I told them I placed an order with RV Direct and why. Now they decide that they can give me a further discount and match price...too late on their part. I found RVW to be very unprofessional when it was clear that they weren't getting my order.

We picked up the camper at RV Direct's compound in Elkhart...it had everything it was supposed to and was well prepped. Happily, we haven't had any problems to speak of...that's always the true test of your dealer.

BTW, RV Direct were able to get a few custom changes done for us that the other dealers were not even willing to talk about.

Dave

DCRC · 10-12-2010, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave_Monica

We've dealt with both.

We bought our Rockwood 2605 from RVW in 2007. We picked them as they had better pricing than some of the other on-line dealers and way lower than the local dealers. We had a few issues with the camper which they eventually resolved, but it was a bit of a struggle.

When we decided to upgrade to a Rockwood 5th wheel, we called RVW first. I asked for an additional discount as it was our second purchase from them, but they weren't having any of that. We also got prices from RV Direct and 3 other on-line dealers...RV Direct was the lowest and surprisingly, RVW was the highest. We went ahead and placed the order with RV Direct. I got a follow up from RVW a week later..I told them I placed an order with RV Direct and why. Now they decide that they can give me a further discount and match price...too late on their part. I found RVW to be very unprofessional when it was clear that they weren't getting my order.

We picked up the camper at RV Direct's compound in Elkhart...it had everything it was supposed to and was well prepped. Happily, we haven't had any problems to speak of...that's always the true test of your dealer.

BTW, RV Direct were able to get a few custom changes done for us that the other dealers were not even willing to talk about.

Dave

That is a shame to hear Dave. I purchased my Windjammer through RVW without a hitch. They sure did try pushing their extended warranty which I declined. True character will almost always reveal itself. A business needs to stop and think before they put their foot in there mouth. The sell they lost will probably not be your last purchase, and you will tell your story to others as well.

phoneman06 · 10-12-2010, 07:25 PM

We purchased from RVW and did not have issues with them. I got a quote from RVD that was about $1700 less than RVW, but when I sent that quote to RVW that agreed to beat it by $100 so I went with them. They also got me the best interest rate.

BigRed · 10-12-2010, 07:46 PM

We bought our 2011 Rockwood Windjammer 3065 from RVW. They beat RVDirects price buy several $1000 dollars's . It surprised me quite frankly. Now I called Rv direct back because they have a outlet in Buffalo,NY and would be only 80miles from me to pick up, so I would have really like to get it from them. I told them the price RVW was quoting and they basicly laughed at me. I also had asked about them installing a Direct TV dish on the unit. They Wouldnt even respond. So they lost a sale. Do you think they (RVW & RVdirect) can get different prices for different models ?? Becuase (Threegr8kaz) Rvdirect acted like RVW did to you, too me. They (RVdirect seem very unproffesional) I even said something to some of my friends that told me to call RVdirect. I had a very good experience with RVW. I would recommend RVW to everyone !! Just kind of strange.

Dave_Monica · 10-12-2010, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phoneman06

I got a quote from RVD that was about $1700 less than RVW, but when I sent that quote to RVW that agreed to beat it by $100 so I went with them.

Why didn't you go back to RV Direct and show them RVW's price and see how long you can play that game.

In our case I asked for their best price, being a repeat customer and they gave me one that was $1400 higher than RV Direct. I didn't play off one dealer against the other. I asked for their best price and decided based on that.

Dave

threegr8katz · 10-12-2010, 08:55 PM

sorry for any one having there feelings hurt by my comment. Thanks to all the rest of you for having insight and comment on this topic.

threegr8katz · 10-12-2010, 09:02 PM

Dave, I hear you I too asked for lowest price up front. RVW gave me a price and RVD another. RVD was less so I went with them and stayed with them and so far very very Happy with Jeff Blair my sales rep......

granite · 10-13-2010, 09:36 AM

This has been an interesting discussion about the two wholesalers. No doubt if I were looking to buy, I'd talk to both before the final decision. We just bought a wildwood from RVW this summer and the transaction went well, price was excellent, and they are located close by.

Big Vic · 10-13-2010, 09:47 AM

I think it depends on the salesperson you get. In my case, RVW beat RVD by $2000 and I negotiated an Equal-i-zer hitch at no additional cost. I did not act on the initial quote from RVW - a few weeks later, I received an email offering to lower the quote by $1500 and add the hitch.

threegr8katz · 10-13-2010, 11:03 AM

Big Vic, nice point, that is what I am saying I think both are good places to purchase. However when comparing both and ready to buy you would hope both would give their best offer to get you in the door and make the sale. I am certain if I waited a day or two I would have gotten the lower price as well as maybe a free hitch but it didn't go that route. Instead, RVW thought they had the lowest bid, maybe they held back to much and lost this sale.

I might also add I didn't join this forum until after placing my order.

RIRED56 · 10-13-2010, 12:00 PM

I picked up a new RW 2604 TT last Friday from RVW. I went through the negotiations with both RVD and RVW back in August and although RVD had better pricing at the onset, RVW did a little better for me in the end. I did not require much effort on my part to get a better deal. As for dealing with RVW, a couple of calls and emails to document exactly what I was getting pretty much was all that was required. My unit was ready in about 6 1/2 weeks from when it was ordered and the pickup process went without any problem at all. Kudo's to Scott, Mitch and Josh (Service/Sales/Customer Service) who all did well by me. We decided to spend a night in the local state park to shakedown the unit prior to leaving the area which paid off. I would strongly recommend doing the same to anyone regardless of where they purchase. It revealed a half dozen or so, mostly minor issues that needed correction. I called and spoke to Scott around 0830 on Saturday morning and much to my surprise and appreciation, the service was amazing. I expected that we would at least have had to tow the unit back to RVW and wait around, but instead, he asked which site I was on and dispatched a technician who was on sight within 30 minutes. I provided my list of issues to Scott, the most serious being a problem with the Concertone not loading CD/DVD. He in turn, provided the list to his technician and all were corrected within the next hour. I've read many negative comments regarding RVW but I have no complaints whatsoever at this point in time. I made the choice to buy from RVW instead of RVD because I anticipated finding some problems during delivery and I wanted to be able to deal face to face. I didn't want to drive to a RVD pickup location for pickup, nor did I want to try and correct minor, post delivery issues with a driver knowing less about the unit than me, or even worse, long distance after delivery. I worked with RVW and RVD and I am satisfied with the path I took at this point. I also attempted to negotiate something competitive with "local" dealers without success. I cannot say how RVD will treat you, but at this point, I feel confident that RVW would not be a bad choice. Good luck with whichever dealer you choose.

poorturtle · 12-05-2010, 08:38 PM

We priced a loaded Sabre 31RETS with all the dealers out here in the south west. We then asked [4] dealers in the mid west to quote the same unit. RVW came in the lowest by about 1k of the mid west people and about 10k lower than the people out here. This is the second unit we have purchased from RVW and have never had any problems with the store, in fact, the on the first trailer they did more than they had to.

RhoZeta · 12-05-2010, 11:33 PM

I had several bumps along the way dealing with RVW when purchasing our 8316 two months ago, lots of little things which added up to a frustration level that were it not for the low price, would have been unbearable for me. Many typos in the contract, which required the salesperson rewriting and re-emailing so i could "digitally" sign and return via email. (had over 15 exchanges of this alone and sadly, when camper arrived it was screwed up again, :sigh) Negotiated a 12000/1200 Equal-i-zer in lie of $500 off for financing thru them that RVD was offering, they tried to slip in a less expensive "E2" model, I put the kill on that right away but when camper arrived, a 10000/1000 model Equal-i-zer was in the camper.....

Once camper was finalized, sales person called me with date that it should be done and said I would hear from him again when he heard the offline date....never heard from him, unless I called! 1 week before my scheduled delivery, I had heard nothing from anybody for 2 weeks so I called, to find out that my salesman was no longer employed there...

As you might imagine, nobody I talked to after that was real interested in helping me, they had made no commission off of me so I was totally ignored. I had to call and talk to the manager and get very PO'd at him over the phone before I got any help with the scheduling of the delivery, and after it arrived in trying to get help with the Equal-I-zer that was the wrong size.

Very frustrating at the time, now I look back and just shake my head and mumble something about the things I do to save a buck or two.....

I would do it again, with a lot better understanding of how it goes now.
I would not hesitate to go with either one.

poorturtle · 12-06-2010, 08:49 AM

Thats unfortunate that you had that experience. Maybe that why your salesman has moved on. We purchased our Sabre about 3 Weeks ago from Kelly T. at RVW. I'm an Engineer so I evaluate everything down to the molecular level. For 2 years I was emailing or calling him every month or so to price out different units and asking questions he had to go back to the manufacturer for answers and he didn't miss a beat. Toward the end, when I asked for the bid price on a spec'd unit I thought he was going to tell me I was more trouble than the sale was worth. When I'm spending more than twice what my first house cost I'm going in with my eyes open.
I requested that I be copied with the "build order" to insure there was no loss in communication there. The channel between me and the financial and customer service people has been open and performing well. So far so good. As this order progresses I will keep posting.

tbiker99 · 12-23-2010, 07:56 PM

I purchased an 8313SS Rockwood from RVW on 15 Dec 2010, and the sale went smooth. Price was about $3500 less then my semi-local (100 miles away) dealer quoted me.
When I picked it up, and they did about a 2 hour walk around with me. Additionally after we hooked it up, my trailer brakes were not working. They took the time to troubleshoot and fix my truck. We found that the plug on my truck was fried. They replaced it and didn't charge me for the hour of labor.

The only thing I didn't like is that they pushed the extended warranty. I passed.

Hipshot · 12-23-2010, 08:56 PM

tbiker99: When I bought my 2010 Rockwood 2604SS from RVDirect Forest River offered a second year warrenty for $150. But I had to apply within 10 days of purshase, I think. I thought it was worth the money.

tbiker99 · 12-23-2010, 09:15 PM

I got the second year for free. They said that FR is giving that away right now. But they were trying to sell me the 7 year plan.

Hipshot · 12-24-2010, 12:22 PM

Great deal on that second year! Free is my favorite price.

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